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Lidocaine in Breast?

Hi ladies! I just had a fine needle aspiration of a cyst in my breast, with use of injected lidocaine. ouch! I asked the dr about nursing afterward, but she didn't seem to be too sure. She told me to pump and dump on that side for 48 hours. I looked into on infant risk and just plain old google, but didn't find much info. Anyone have more information for me about this?

Re: Lidocaine in Breast?

Did you CALL the infantrisk helpline? They are open until 5pm Central time, USA. So, for about another hour after I post this. "We are now open to answer calls Monday-Friday 8am-5pm central time Please contact us at (806)-352-2519"

Personally I cannot see how this would be an issue when lidocaine is used as a local anesthetic. it is meds in your blood that can transfer into milk. So theoretically it should not matter where the lidocaine is being injected, and lidocaine has an L2 rating from Hale which is quite safe and would not warrant pumping and dumping with the average normal healthy baby. But I am by no means a medical professional so?

Re: Lidocaine in Breast?

I had lidocaine when my breast was operated on and also at another time, not in my breast. Both times, I was advised to wait a few hours to breastfeed, at most. Apparently it dissipates very quickly. 48 hours seems excessively conservative.

You can call me JoMo!

Mom to baby boy Joe, born 5/4/09 and breastfed for more than two and a half years, and baby girl Maggie, born 7/9/12.

Re: Lidocaine in Breast?

It's coming back to me now, and I think they advised I "pump and dump for the rest of the day" after an early afternoon appointment just to play it super safe (bc it's not in your bloodstream, and it dissipates quickly), so I think I pumped once, then nursed again as usual that evening.

You can call me JoMo!

Mom to baby boy Joe, born 5/4/09 and breastfed for more than two and a half years, and baby girl Maggie, born 7/9/12.

Re: Lidocaine in Breast?

Seriously! I think that basically, after the local has worn off and you have full sensation back, it's gone. (Even if you are still numb, I don't think it causes any harm to the baby, mind you, but once your sensation is back, nothing to worry about.)

You can call me JoMo!

Mom to baby boy Joe, born 5/4/09 and breastfed for more than two and a half years, and baby girl Maggie, born 7/9/12.

Re: Lidocaine in Breast?

Yes, when I had a needle biopsy on my breast, I was expressing a lot of blood for a while. If it's a whole lot of blood, you might want to dump it. It won't hurt your baby, but in larger amounts it can cause indigestion. Man, I'm sorry, this SUCKS. I remember it all too well.

ETA: In my case, the blood went down a lot after just a day or so. I hope you'll have the same experience.

You can call me JoMo!

Mom to baby boy Joe, born 5/4/09 and breastfed for more than two and a half years, and baby girl Maggie, born 7/9/12.